The main things holding most WordPress consultants back from hitting their income goals aren't even real things. They are myths and mindset issues. The truth is, right now is the best time ever to be a WordPress consultant for two reasons:
Powerful ecosystem
The WordPress ecosystem is stronger than it has ever been. There are so many tools that you can use to drive results for your clients without having to write code or build “custom” solutions. You just need to combine and leverage the tools that are out there. If you do that, you can create a huge impact for your clients.
Clients aren't getting results
There are so many clients out there looking for genuine help because they have been sold a bunch of cheap stuff that's not working for them.
When client after client says your prices are “too high” or “more than they were expecting” it is easy to think that all clients are broke and nobody is willing to pay you what you're really worth.
Or maybe you're thinking that the problem is where you live. If you lived in a bigger city – like somewhere in New York, or California, or Florida – then there would be more people who are serious about their business and they would be able to afford the rates you want to charge.
If this sounds familiar, you've got to meet Amy. She went from barely being able to sell $500 websites to landing $5,000+ clients – and she lives in Idaho! So, yes, it's definitely possible to 10X your pricing… even if you live in Idaho.
Here's a quick preview of what Amy said:
I was super-pressed for time charging $500 per site. Maybe I'd do somebody a favor and do it for $250. I had to squeeze in so many sites per month just to make ends meet. I wasn't really giving anybody my best. I had no residual income at all. Even though I knew how to do a great job, I really couldn't afford to spend that much time on a site.
Now, I'm more confident. The quality of my work has gone way up and my marketing skills have really improved. I know what to ask and what to talk about. It just feels better. I don't feel bad asking for higher prices because they're definitely getting their money's worth.
Let me introduce you to Bryan because sometimes it can seem impossible to 5x or 10x your pricing when all of your leads seem to be broke. Or, even if it is possible, it feels like all the cheaper alternatives and low-budget developers out there are going to get most of the work so it will take years to find the right clients to build a 6-figure business. The truth is, you can make a huge shift in just a couple of weeks.
Bryan moved from Puerto Rico to Austin Texas where he didn't know anyone or have any real business contacts. He was reaching out to potential clients but almost nobody was interested. The few people who were interested were expecting a super cheap website.
The “feast and famine” cycle was burning him out. He was trying to sell WordPress maintenance packages but being told, “No.” every time. He tried to find higher-paying, more serious clients, but he just wasn't finding them. He was attempting to convince people to work with him because he was “technically better” than those other low-budget alternatives but lead after lead kept slipping through his hands.
Here's Bryan's story of how he turned it all around and landed $24,600 of new clients in just three weeks!
Here are some red flags to look out for as a signal that your mindset is in the wrong place.
Do your clients say your prices are higher than they were “expecting?”
Do you find yourself falling into the “jack of all trades” category?
When you get a lead or a referral are they just looking for a small, little project?
Are most of your projects quick, one-and-done style projects?
Are you having a hard time figuring out how to describe yourself and what you do (on your website or in person) because it ends up sounding like a technical resume?
If this is sounding familiar, the problem probably traces back to your mindset. Once you change the way you think about yourself, you will change the way you present your business and talk about yourself. That will change the clients you attract and the value of the projects you accept.
The key is shifting away from thinking of yourself as a technical resource and start viewing yourself as a business consultant who also has the ability to technically implement the solutions you offer. Ultimately you need to make the shift away from technical implementation and towards results-oriented consulting.
If these are the types of things you've been thinking about lately because you are ready to set yourself apart from all the competition and downward price pressure then this session is absolutely for you!
Do you work with anyone who charges for time on their calendar? For example, a photographer who books photo sessions? If so, in the next 20 minutes you're going to discover an awesome way to turn your client's website into their own booking agent.
OK, suppose you're working with a photographer and she wants people to book and pay for photo sessions. In addition, she wants to provide a document of tips to make sure people are prepared for the session and they know what to expect. Lastly, she wants to make sure this person has been added to her email marketing platform as a customer for future mailings.
Here's what we're going to cover:
How to get let people sign up on your calendar but only for times that are available
How to include extra information along with the booked session like a “Preparing For Your Photo Session” PDF or something.
How to add your client to a few different email lists so you can follow up with them in the future based on the interactions you've had with them. For example, you might follow up with your wedding photography clients with different information and at different times from your Senior Picture clients.
How to provide multiple payment options all on the same page (PayPal, Credit Card, and manually accepting a check in person)
How to set up a private area on your site as a simple client portal where you and your client can share pictures or anything else just between the two of you.
Last night I was talking to my daughter about her business because she's getting serious about taking it from a hobby to an actual business that supports her. Of course, we talked about pricing, marketing, branding, etc. But my conversation with her was different from our workshops here because it was just the two of us and I had the opportunity to really speak from the heart.
We rose above the tips, tricks and little tweaks. We had a real father/daughter conversation. I had the opportunity to share the hard-earned secrets for success that took me two decades to uncover.
The truth is, figuring out the details of which services to offer, how to package them, and what to charge is just a fraction of what it takes to create a business that inspires you and that delivers the impact you want to make for your clients.
There are a few practical (and unconventional) concepts that have to be in place first. Otherwise, it can FEEL like you're making progress only to find that the progress was all in the wrong direction. Now you're even worse off than before because you have to regain lost ground and lost time.
So, in this session, we're going to talk about exactly what it takes to transform your business as fast as possible WITHOUT working ridiculous hours, burning yourself out, or losing your integrity in the process.
The best way to boost your online sales just got a lot easier (and more affordable)!
The most powerful thing you can do to increase the revenue from your ecommerce store is to keep your customers engaged with highly targeted, behavior-based, timely content.
In this quick 20-minute workshop, you're going to discover two different concepts for keeping your customers engaged and how you can set up highly targeted email marketing campaigns without all the configuration and fuss that is usually required to do stuff like this.
So, you're about to see:
How to set up an email drip campaign based on the product someone buys. This is a great way to offer related products, improve customer support, and encourage repeat transactions.
You'll see how to add and remove customers from various mailing lists based on their status (lead vs customer), their categories of interest, and the products they purchase from you.
How to do all of this while saving time and money without having to buy, learn, and use complicated and expensive email marketing tools.
This is a much easier and less expensive alternative to WooCommerce + MailChimp. With this new combination of tools, targeted, behavior-driven, ecommerce email marketing is far easier, faster to learn, and more affordable than before.
I consistently notice three sneaky areas that silently drain people's web design businesses. In this session we're going to shine light on these three areas:
Client Acquisition Costs
How to avoid spending far too much time and money hunting for clients.
Business Structures That Don't Scale
Things that seem like a good idea at first, but ultimately will never scale to meet your income goals.
Unrecognized Opportunity Costs
Only looking at the revenue you are making from one thing without considering the cost of not doing something different.
Addressing these three areas of your business can literally be the difference that more than doubles your income far faster than you might have thought possible.
This is all about how WordPress consultants can streamline their workflow and their cash flow while also providing a better client experience.
Here are some of the things we'll be covering:
How to get a project deposit during your first meeting with a client (both technically and strategically)
How (and why) to create a private page on your website to use for project management
How to share project milestones and collect payment for achieving those milestones
How to allow your clients to pay invoices on your website (either one-time payments or subscriptions for hosting, maintenance plans, and marketing packages)
These are all things that we can do – as WordPress consultants – to server our clients more effectively, provide better client experiences and make more money in the process.
If you want to get away from low-budget, small projects and you're thinking about raising your rates, there are three different pricing strategies you might be considering. In this session, we talk about hourly rates, fixed cost projects, and value-based pricing. Ultimately, as you move away from smaller freelancing projects into the role of a high-value consultant you are going to want to land on value-based pricing because you can charge dramatically more and it also creates the best outcomes for both you AND your clients.
The problem is the term “value-based pricing” gets thrown around a lot and there's confusion over what it means. For example, whose value are you talking about? Your value? The client's value? Also, what's the difference between value-based pricing and fixed cost projects? We're going to unpack all of that today.
One of the things that often gets overlooked is that your value is not going to be the same to all clients. I've seen a lot of people start to go down the path of shifting to a value-based pricing structure but really all that means is they have raised their rates for all of their clients and all of their work. The truth is that some clients will value your work more than others. The key to success is getting yourself in front of the clients who value your work the highest.
Once you make this shift you will find that other problems that used to be major roadblocks begin to fade away. For example, shifting to value-based pricing makes it pretty obvious what to say on your own website. So, if you're stuck trying to figure out what to say on your website and you don't just want to list the same services that everyone else is listing, then this value-based pricing shift will give you some clarity with how you define and market your business.
Also, this shift will enable you to literally charge 5x to 10x more than before without having to work more hours. In fact, you'll probably find yourself working fewer hours because you will be cutting out a ton of time-wasting “free” work. For example:
All the research and discovery phases for projects you don't win.
Writing proposals that don't get accepted.
Writing blog posts that nobody ever reads
Posting endlessly on social media
Wasting time meeting with unqualified clients
If you have been trying to figure out how to increase your rates without pricing yourself out of the market then this is for you. This is what “working smarter, not harder” is all about.
